Sunday, September 25, 2016

Good-bye Summer

A half year has passed. The summer is over, harvesting is taking place, and winter planting has begun. As an update, none of the Yummy peppers made it; one germinated but then damped off. Germination of the Delicious and Abe Lincoln tomatoes was less than spectacular — less than 50%. We did get tomatoes of each of those varieties. The Delicious grew like gangbusters, climbing out the top of their cages and reaching over 6 feet high. They are a good tasting, solid fleshed, fairly early tomato.

The Abe Lincolns struggled. Again, a tasty tomato, but somewhat watery inside — sliced and on my sandwiches, they soaked the bread. Neither appears to be resistant to any diseases at all. It is a toss-up whether I want to bother with them next year.

The Rutgers, as always, were slow, but steady producers.

Many of my cages this year were made from 2” x 4” mesh garden fence. A 5’ wide roll allowed for 24” and 28” high cages with 4” prongs into the ground. For next year, the 28” cages will be cut down to 24” — they are just a bit too deep for good maintenance. Also, the spacing between the cages needs to be increased for better breathing.

There is plenty to blog about. More later.